Lockable hinge



NOV. 15, 1955 w RUSCH 2,723,420

LOCKABLE HINGE Filed July 13, 1953 /2 IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent 2,723,420 LOCKABLE HINGE William H. Rusch, Milwaukee, Wis, assiguor to Worldbest Industries, Inc., Cudahy, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Application July 13, 1953, Serial No. 367,705 1 Claim. (Cl. 16145) The invention relates to a lockable hinge for collapsible frame structures.

The main object of the invention is to provide a hinge for frame structures forming parts of collapsible structures such as tables or chairs or other structures having hinged parts in which the hinge may be locked against movement in the assembled position of the frame parts and the locking means readily released when desired.

The invention further consists in the several features hereinafter set forth and more particularly defined by claims at the conclusion hereof.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a collapsible table equipped with a lockable hinge embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the improved hinge, parts of the frame being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the hinge in locked position, parts being broken away and parts being shown in section;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the hinge in unlocked position;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation view of the improved hinge.

Referring to the drawings, the numerals 6 and 7 designate frame parts which may form the frame parts of a collapsible or folding structure such as the table 8 of Fig. 1 and which parts are secured to table part top portion 9, said frame parts 6 and 7 being hingedly connected together by metal hinge members 11 and 12 secured to said parts 6 and 7, respectively, and provided with ears 13 in which a hinge pin 14 is mounted. The hinge members 11 and 12 may be secured directly to their associated frame member or, as shown, they may be secured to reinforcing metal plates 15 and 16 and the frame members 6 and 7 by rivets 17. The plates 15 and 16 preferably extend beyond the members 11 and 12 and at their outer ends are secured to their respective frame member by a rivet 18.

With the hinge members 11 and 12 and plates 15 and 16 in assembled position on the frame members 6 and 7, the ends of said frame members 6 and 7 abut each other when in assembled position.

The hinge members 11 and 12 beyond the hinge pin 14 have parts 19 and 20 that overlap each other when the hinge is in closed position, the ear 13 of the member 11 and its associated part 19 being offset from the car 13 of the member 12 and its associated part 20. Where the parts 19 and 20 overlap each other, they are provided with alined holes 21 to receive a locking pin 22 when the hinge is closed to lock the hinge members and consequently the frame members in their extended position.

The locking pin 22 has a head portion 23 provided with a reduced diameter end 24 which is mounted in the outer end of a flat leaf spring 25 and upset or riveted to this end of the spring. The other end of the spring is secured by a rivet 26 to the hinge member 11. The spring 25 acts to normally urge the pin 22 inwardly to its locking position. The pin 22 has a bevelled end adapted to be engaged by the outer edge of the part 20, which end acts as a cam surface by which the pin 22 is moved by the part 20 until the holes 21 come into alinement and permit the spring 25 to move the pin 22 to its locked position.

For releasing the pin 22 from its locked position the 2,723,420 iatented Nov. 15, 1955 head end of a push button 27 is slidably mounted in an aperture 28 in frame member 11 and its reduced diameter shank 27a is slidably mounted in alined apertures in the plate 15 and the hinge member 11, said pin being held in operative position by a wire washer 29 crimped about and anchored in said pin. When the button 27 is pushed in, the outer end of the shank 27a engages the fiat spring 25 and pushes it outwardly to the position shown in Fig. 4, thereby moving the pin 22 out of locked engagement with the hinge member 12 so that the hinge members 11 and 12 may be moved to an open position to permit folding together of the frame members 6 and 7, one of the members 6 being indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5 in its folded position. The other member 6 may then be folded down alongside the member 7.

On release of the pin 22 by the button 27, the pin may be held in its unlocked position by a fiat leaf spring 30 secured at one end by a rivet 30a to the member 12 and which has a bent end 31 that snaps in behind the outer end of the spring 25, as shown in Fig. 4, when the pin 22 is released to hold the pin until the hinge is opened up. The leaf spring 30 holds leaf spring 25 and pin 22 out of the lined up holes only until the hinge is broken open and the holes no longer line up. Pin 22 cannot lock the hinge together again until the members 11 and 12 are again moved to the extended position so that the holes line up and pin 22 is then forced back into locked position by the spring 25. This relocking is done without interference from leaf spring 30 since the pin 27 is released from the spring 25 as soon as it is caught by the spring 31 and the breaking open of the hinge thereafter causes the spring 31 to be released from the spring 25 so that the pin 22 is ready to move to locked position when the hinge members are again lined up.

The hinge members 6 and 7 may each have an apertured flange 32 for attaching to other frame parts of the collapsible structure.

I desire it to be understood that this invention is not to be limited to any particular form or arrangement of parts except in so far as such limitations are included in the claim.

What I claim as my invention is:

In a hinge for collapsible frame structures, the combination of a pair of hinge members pivotally connected together and respectively secured to frame parts of the structure, said hinge members having overlapping portions provided with alined apertures, a locking pin engageable in said apertures to hold the hinge members in their extended position, a leaf spring carrying said locking pin and normally urging it to a locked position, a push button mounted for sliding movement relative to one of said hinge members and engageable with said spring to move the locking pin to an unlocked position, and a second leaf spring anchored at one end to one of said members and having a bent end adapted to snap under the free end of said first named spring to hold said locking pin in unlocked position while said hinge members are in their extended position but releasable from said first named spring when said hinge members are moved to folded position to permit the first named spring to move said locking pin to locked position when said hinge members are in their extended position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 547,327 Bunker Oct. 1, 1895 976,005 Smith Nov. 15, 1910 1,226,324 Gage May 15, 1917 FOREIGN PATENTS 59,247 Austria May 26, 1913 

